Improved ditching-machine



. tait-rh" gratte aimt @fitta JACOB KING, or INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, AssIeNoa ro musste, JAMES HAMILTON, AND s. sToKnLY, `ALI.- or sans. PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 74,549, dated Feruarg/ 18, 1868.

'tits dgehnle referat tain tigen @Italia rtmt lmit mating hat mf tige same.

T O ALL WHQM IT MAY CONCERN: I

Be it known that I, JACQBA KING., of Indianapolis, in'tho county of Marion, and State of Indiana, have invented a new and'useful Improvement-in Ditchingdliachines; and I do hereby' declare that the'following is a full andexact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, like letters referringto like parts. Y

'The nature of my invention consists in providing a self-adjusting yoke, (in that class ot` ditchers that has an endless belt for carrying the earth up and'away from the cutters) which yoke, being coupled tothe utte'rs, slides forward vor back on the i'ra'me of the machine, as the cutting-device is raised-or lowered,and that, too,'without any attention from the operator, farther than what is required to operate the elevating and depressingmechanism. Also iu a. hing-ed coupling between the heels of my side cutters and thelower front endof the lsides 'of the dirtway. This coupling-hinge serves the useful purpose of preserving, at all times, the vproper working relation of these essential parts of this class of ditchingrmachines; and the sliding adjustable yoke (described-in the preceding paragraph) always acts iny concert with the movementsrof this hinge, ,rendering the machine so simple in its functions that any person can operate it vsuccessfully and with the greatest ease. I

i To -enable others skilled in the art to make and usemy invention, I will proceed to describei'itsconstruis; -tion and-operation. In all vother respects, (excepting the self-adjusting'yoke and coupling-hinge `hinted at above,)`my machine may be made much likeauy other machine of this class.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my ditching-machine. Figure 2 is a top view of iig. 1, and Figure 3 is a rear and'side view of my side cutters. v IAis the parallel frameor draw-bars of my machine. Their front ends are securelybolted-toT, the coupling-4 fblock. 4When the Vmachine is inuse, `this coupling-block is bolted to the front axle ofV any commonrtwo-horse wagon. The parallel bars .A may be three by six. inches insize, and from eight to twelve feet long. VThey must be framed a suicientdistance apart" to admit the free' play of the mechanism between them, Their rear 'ends are secured to 'the axle a. W, the wheels, that sustain. the rear end ofthe dirt-elevator, and communicate motion to thebelt B through cog-wheel, d. Pinion lt. gears into this cog-wheel,rand through a shaft extending midway between wheels W anda smooth OrsPur-pulIe-y on the end farthest from t, gives motion to belt B, suihcently rapid to elevate the loose earth as fast as it is cutfrom the ditch. Y is a sliding yoke, composed of four pieces,vtwoablove and two below parallel'` bars A, and held together bythe boxing `or'.fhousingofcutterv vbeam N.' `This cutter-beam slides up and down between theyoke-pieces Y, and having the side cutters C securely' bolted to its lower end, and `these in lturn being hinged to the front endY of way-boards S, it plainly appears that, when the cutters are depressed, through the'operation of cog-barj, pinion e, and crank 7c, the yoke Y must slide towards the rear, causing' the'p'oint of bottom cutter P to describe a .circular move'ment, it being the radius, and the belt-pulley at upper rear end of S, the centre. The changed position of the yoke Y andcutter bars and S4 :1re all shown' by the dotted lines in fig. 1. l?2 C are my sidecutters, bolted to the lower end of N, with the horizontal cutter P between them, und constitutingthe extremev point. t' is the inclined-plane board, over which the cut earth iii-st passes on its way to the elevating-beltB. It stands at about the angle ,shown in Ifigs. 1 und 3. The belt B passes around the small roller r, situated between Gand `just under the rear end of t'.

It will be seen in fig. 3 that the horizontal bottom cutter does not reachback to the belt, thus leavingl an open space through which dirt muy freely pass, should any chance to get underzQIthus preventing any choking or interference with the free movement of the belt. The space J and c, in iig. 3, is sufficient to admit the entire thickness of the'side-boards S. The recess being circular and the front ends of S round, makes a free working.

Ahingeoi the side cutters, they being outside. The -waylboards S press'the Ysides of the ditch smooth, so that the elevator has great freedom in its passage. At J, in tlg. 3, the recess is seen to he tangential to the remainder of the circle. This is for the purpose of free movement to the side-boards ofV the elevator when thel cut-ters arc depressed `to their lowest-point whenicutting the bottom`of a ditch. yGogdiarfriigs. l and 2, is let into the rear,

face of N. Into this the pinion e is geared, and by operating lthe ,cranlLQ the point of the ditch-cutter. can be lowered to any required depth, and is held in any desired position by the`ratchet-pawl t dropping into ratchetwheel v, the pawl being hinged to one of the bars of yokev Y. l

In constructing these machines for very heavy work,it may be necessary to use a driving-spur wheel, al, on each of the two wheels W, and the pinion-shafttoextend between them, with a pinion on each cnd,vand the belt pulley in its middle. 'b are wooden cleats, fastened on the top or outer faceof the beltB. {llhey furnish a. lodgment for the loose earth in its upward passage froml the ditch,land maintain an equal distribution of the same along the belt in its upward passage.

The mode of operation is simple, and has been partially describedin the foregoing. With a hole through the front end of T to receive the king-bolt of a wagon, the machine can be coupledto the same, this diteher taking the place of the rear portion of -s'aid wagon. By turning the crank K back, thecutters and entire nose of the machine are let down, so thatfit will make a cut of two to four inches deep. A shedding-roof or double plane chute may be suspended at theirear, so that it will shed or throw the dirt on each side of the ditch as it drops off the'belt B. After making the first cut, the nose of the machine P may be set down again to take another cut, and so on until the ditch is cu't as deep' asl desired. This operation of lowering the cuttingdevice neverl changes the proper working relation of -the parts that perform the cutting, to the bottoni of the cut. The land-sides of O and the bottoni side of Palways occupy the same position.

i Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by 'Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the side cuttersC C with the way-boards S S, 'when the former are constructed with circular recessesto receive the correspondingly rounded forward extremities of the wayboards,fso as to form a. hinge-joint, substantially as and for the purpose' specified. l

2. The yo'ke Y, arranged to slide upon the frame A, and adapted to change its position in conformity with the adjustment of the cutter-beam N, as and-for the purpose specified.l i

JACOB KING. Witnesses:

ROBERT Gr. Summa, Hn'NMC. SMITnEn. 

